With regard to a bill of rights, this is a notion originating
in England, where no written constitution is to be found,
and the authority of their government is derived from the
most remote antiquity. Magna Charta itself is no constitution,
but a solemn instrument ascertaining certain rights
of individuals, by the legislature for the time being; and
every article of which the legislature may at any time alter.
This, and a bill of rights also, the invention of later times,
were occasioned by great usurpations of the crown, contrary,
as was conceived, to the principles of their government,
about which there was a variety of opinions. But
neither that instrument, nor any other instrument, ever
attempted to abridge the authority of Parliament, which is
supposed to be without any limitation whatever. Had their
constitution been fixed and certain, a bill of rights would
have been useless, for the constitution would have shown
plainly the extent of that authority which they were disputing
about. Of what use, therefore, can a bill of rights
be in this Constitution, where the people expressly declare
how much power they do give, and consequently retain all
they do not? It is a declaration of particular powers by the
people to their representatives, for particular purposes. It
may be considered as a great power of attorney, under
which no power can be exercised but what is expressly
given. Did any man ever hear, before, that at the end of a
power of attorney it was said that the attorney should not
exercise more power than was there given him? Suppose,
for instance, a man had lands in the counties of Anson and [Volume 1, Page 476]
Caswell, and he should give another a power of attorney
to sell his lands in Anson, would the other have any authority
to sell the lands in Caswell?--or could he, without
absurdity, say, "'Tis true you have not expressly authorized
me to sell the lands in Caswell; but as you had lands
there, and did not say I should not, I thought I might as
well sell those lands as the other." A bill of rights, as I
conceive, would not only be incongruous, but dangerous.
No man, let his ingenuity be what it will, could enumerate
all the individual rights not relinquished by this Constitution.
Suppose, therefore, an enumeration of a great many,
but an omission of some, and that, long after all traces of
our present disputes were at an end, any of the omitted
rights should be invaded, and the invasion be complained
of; what would be the plausible answer of the government
to such a complaint? Would they not naturally say, "We
live at a great distance from the time when this Constitution
was established. We can judge of it much better by
the ideas of it entertained at the time, than by any ideas of
our own. The bill of rights, passed at that time, showed
that the people did not think every power retained which
was not given, else this bill of rights was not only useless,
but absurd. But we are not at liberty to charge an absurdity
upon our ancestors, who have given such strong proofs
of their good sense, as well as their attachment to liberty.
So long as the rights enumerated in the bill of rights remain
unviolated, you have no reason to complain. This is
not one of them." Thus a bill of rights might operate as a
snare rather than a protection. If we had formed a general
legislature, with undefined powers, a bill of rights would
not only have been proper, but necessary; and it would
have then operated as an exception to the legislative authority
in such particulars. It has this effect in respect to
some of the American constitutions, where the powers of
legislation are general. But where they are powers of a
particular nature, and expressly defined, as in the case of
the Constitution before us, I think, for the reasons I have
given, a bill of rights is not only unnecessary, but would be
absurd and dangerous.

Elliot, Jonathan, ed. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution as Recommended by the General Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. . . . 5 vols. 2d ed. 1888. Reprint. New York: Burt Franklin, n.d.